Obturator or valve



NW 279 1951i E. MERCIER ET AL 2,5%,345

OBTURTOR OR VALVE Filed June 19, l1945 Ew/E mL/7 E E E I l l l l i l l i 72 4/4 AfroRA/E ys' Patented Nov. 27, 1951 OBTURATOR 0R VALVE Ernest Mercier and Marcel Ehlinger, Paris, France, assignors, by mesne assignments, to Moore, Inc., Atlanta, Ga., a corporation of Georgia Application June 19, 1945, Serial No. 609,390 In France September 12, 1942 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires September 12, 1962 6 Claims.

The present invention relates to an obturator or valve structure applicable to piston machines in which the fluids are expanded or compressed.

The obturator essentially consists in a plane or curved metal blade or valve, of small thickness, perforated with a plurality of ports the number of which may be varied, this blade sliding With a reciprocating movement between cheek members perforated with ports identical to the ports in the blades, said cheek members con: stituting, upon registration of their ports with those of the blade, a series of convergent-divern gent nozzles in the neck of which moves the blade,

ythe uids at very high speed with only a small floss of pressure owing to the shape of the nozzles and, on the other hand, the advantage of being capable of reciprocation at high frequency owing t0 the lightness of the movable part, that is, the blade and to the small amount of movement required for a given valve opening. l 'The invention can be applied to machines having a driving shaft, as well as to machines without a driving shaft, and to `free piston machines. Thevalve can be controlled by a crank, eccentric or cam in a conventional manner but in the case of machines without a crankshaft, in particular those having a high frequency of reciprocation, it may be advantageous to control it pneumatically.

Such pneumatic control may be accomplished by connecting the obturator or valve with a pis- .ton receiving, at suitable times owing to the functioning of appropriate distributors, a compressed g.

gas alternately on one face and the other, which The obturator of Fig. l comprises 'a movable part or blade I6, constituted by a plate of small thickness perforated with a plurality of parallel slots AI5 of small width relative to the total flow area of the valve. The blade or valve I6 moves between grids providing members Il, I8 having the opposite surfaces thereof formed in continuous smooth outlines which are connected at least at one side of the valve by curved outlines to form rounded nos-es on the members l?, I 8. These members separate passages of the same number as the slots E5, the grid ll being on the inlet side and the grid I8 on the outlet side of the device with respect to ow of the fluid, .for example, air. Blade l takes either the position indicated at the left in Fig. l, which corresponds to opening for the passage of the iiuid which can take place with a minimum loss of pressure owing to its direct passage through openings in the shape of nozzles, the outlines of members Il, i3 being continuous with the interior surface of the ports l5, or theposition indicated at the right in Fig. l, which corresponds to closing of the passage to stop flow of the fluid. The very light member I@ can be subjected to a great acceleration and to reversal of the direction of its movement without producing excessive stress in the valve structure or in the control. 1t is driven by the rod IS.

In the case in which the uid flow passing through the obturator is large, the blade and the grid can be perforated with several rows of slots, as indicated in Fig. 3.

The obturator or valve according to the present invention can advantageously be constructed as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The fixed grids of the valve are constituted by bars of profiled shape, such as "ll and l2, held at the respective sides of the valve between the two parts i3 and lll acting as a frame. A plate perforated with slots such as the plate IE of l may oscillate in the space shown Fig. 4 between the bars ll and l2 and 4between the frame parts '53, M with its surfaces in contact with the seats provided on these bars and parts, the ports in the plate being registerable with the passages provided between the bars when the plate is in a given position of its movement.

In the embodiments of Fig. 1 and Figs. 4 and 5 the members Il, I 3 and the bars 1I, 'I2 provide surfaces defining the respective flow passages between these members or bars which have substantially continue-us smooth outlines in the direction transversely of the valve seat or seats. These outlines respectively are continuous with the outlines of the internal surfaces of the respective ports in the slide valve or blade when the slide valve is in a given position in which the ports thereof are in registration with the passages between the sep-f arating members or bars. These passages thus dened by the surfaces of the members or bars constitute continuous nozzles of varying cross seo-v 3 tion through the means which provides the valve seat or seats and through the slide valve when this valve is in the given position. These passages may be provided as shown in the drawings at both sides of the slide valve.

The opposite surfaces of the respective passages at least at a given side of the slide valve diverge from each other substantially from the smallest cross section of the respective passages. Preferably the outlines dening each passage diverge at least at one side of the valve in smooth curves substantially from the valve seat. In a valve structure providing two seats cooperating with the respective opposite faces of the slide valve the spacing of these seats and the corresponding thickness of the valve may be so restricted and the seats may be so positioned with respect to the extent of the passages transversely of the seats that both these seats and both faces of the valves are disposed adjacent the smallest cross section of the passages.

As shown in the drawings the members or bars at least at one side of the slide valve at the ends thereof spaced along the passages from the slide valve are curved smoothly to connect the outlines of adjacent passages at opposite sides of the respective members or bars to form rounded noses on these ends of the members or bars. As shown in Fig. 1 preferably the members or bars providing the rounded noses are disposed at the inlet side of the valve with respect to the flow of the iiuid therethrough.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a valve structure, a slide valve having a plurality of ports therein spaced in the direction parallel to the sliding movement of said valve, and means providing valve seats cooperating with opposite faces of said slide valve for sliding movement of said valve in contact with and relative to said seats and providing members at both sides of said valve separating a plurality of passages respectively registerable simultaneously with said ports in said slide valve upon sliding movement of said valve to a given position relative to said seats,

the shape and area of the crossA section of the respective passages at said seats being substantially the same as the shape and area of the cross section of the ports registerable with said respective passages, said members at least at a given side of said valve each having a substantial extent in the direction transversely of said valve seats and having the surfaces thereof formed in substantially continuous smooth outlines in said direction, said outlines respectively being continuous with the outlines of the internal surfaces of the respective ports to form continuous nozzles of varying cross section along the respective passages through said means providing said valve seats and through said slide valve when said valve is in said given position, said outlines of the respective members which form opposite surfaces of the respective passages diverging from each other at least at said given side of said slide valve substantially from the smallest cross section of said passages, said members at the ends thereof spaced along said passages from said slide valve at least at said given side of said valve being curved smoothly to connect the outlines of adjacent passages at opposite sides of the respective members to form rounded noses at said ends of said members.

2. In a valve structure, a slide valve having a plurality of ports therein spaced in the direction parallel to the sliding movement of said valve, and

means providing valve seats respectively cooperating with opposite faces of said slide valve for sliding movement of said valve in contact with and relative to said seats and providing members at both sides of said valve separating a plurality of passages respectively registerable simultaneously with said ports in said slide valve upon sliding movement of said valve to a given position relative to said seats, the shape and area of the cross section of the respective passages at said seats being substantially the same as the shape and area of the cross section of the ports registerable with said respective passages, said members each having a substantial extent in the direction transversely of said valve seats and having the surfaces thereof formed in substantially continuous smooth outlines in said direction, said outlines respectively being continuous with the outlines of the internal surfaces cf the respective ports to form continuous nozzles of varying cross section along the respective passages through said means providing said valve seats and through said slide valve when said valve is in said given position, said outlines of the respective members which form opposite surfaces of the respective passages diverging from each other at least at a given side of said slide valve substantially from the smallest cross section of said passages, said members at the ends thereof spaced along said passages from said slide valve at least at said given side of said slide valve being curved smoothly to connect the outlines of adjacent passages at opposite sides of the respective members to form rounded noses on said members at said ends of said members.

3. In a valve structure as defined in claim 2, the space between said seats and the corresponding thickness of said valve between said opposite faces thereof being so restricted and said seats being so positioned with respect to said extent of said members transverse to said seats that both said faces and the respective seats are disposed adjacent said smallest cross section of said passages.

4. In a valve structure as defined in claim 3, said outlines diverging from said seats at both sides of said valves.

5. In a valve structure as defined in claim l, said ports in said valve being of elongated form arranged with their lengths parallel to each other in the plane of said seat and spaced transversely of said lengths in the direction parallel to said movement of said valve.

6. In a valve structure as defined in claim 2, means providing a frame, said passage separating members being provided by a plurality of adjacently positioned bars supported in said frame in spaced relation in the direction of movement of said valve, said frame and said bars providing said valve seats, adjacent bars at each side of said valve being disposed and being formed to provide said passages between said bars with a cross section the shape and area of which at the respective seats is substantially the same as the shape and area of the cross section of said ports in said valve, said bars at least at one side of said valve providing at opposite sides thereof surfaces of substantially continuous smooth outlines, said outlines extending transversely of and converging in the direction from said valve in a plane perpendicular to said seats parallel to the direction of sliding movement of said valve to define the surfaces of adjacent passages, said outlines including the outline of the internal surfaces of said ports to form said'continuous nozzles of varying cross section through said means providing said valve seats and through said valve, said outlines at said opposite sides of the respective bars being connected by curved outlines at the ends of said bars spaced from said valve seats to form rounded noses at said ends of said bars.

ERNEST MERCIER.. MARCEL EHLINGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 6 Name Date Eastwood Aug. 23, 1898 Grouvelle et al June 5, 1906 Stewart Feb. 2, 1909 Hollis Sept. 29, 1914 Baker Sept. 28, 1915 Douglas Jan. 30, 1917 Neilson June 15, 1920 Wilson Jan. 16, 1923 Pfau Mar. 26, 1929 Petrelli Dec. 24, 1929 F'oulds June 10, 1930 Cornell Feb. 13, 1934 Nordstrom May 7, 1935 Schuchman et al. June 29, 1937 Rheingans Dec. 26, 1944 Muller Feb. 6, 1945 Seligman Mar. 28, 1950 

